Bought an acro so big I had to transport it in a 55 gallon Brute Trash Can

Daddy-o · Oct 30, 2020

Nice!!!!!

Anihiel1 · Oct 30, 2020

That's absolutely gorgeous

dzolot · Oct 30, 2020

Good luck! It’s a beautiful coral and it sounds like you’re parameters are solid and you’ve given plenty of thought to the move!! Can’t wait to see pics of it flourishing in your tank!!

joseserrano · Oct 30, 2020

Jda is right. He’s actually being very nice. Your lfs should have said something similar before purchase. And never would an acro that large be imported. It would die on the way and cost a ton to ship, with special packaging (wouldn’t fit in a normal box).

Skynyrd Fish · Oct 31, 2020

I’m looking forward to seeing pictures of this beast in a year! Nice score.

MnFish1 · Oct 31, 2020

Stuartmercer said:
They dont sell colonies the size of what you have lol

I can see some of your point - is what you're saying 'because that colony grew up in certain conditions over a long period of time it will be more difficult to acclimate'? If so - I get the 'theory', but, IMHO in reality - there should be no difference between a frag and a colony - if the parameters are similar - even the issue with lighting and or flow - if I were to accept what you were saying - wouldn't it mean that every time you changed pumps or bought a new light - it would be likely to cause problems?

Second - I dont understand the rationale about 'if the flow is different, the inside of the coral will die off' - By definition almost - as a colony gets bigger - there is more shading (inside) - and less flow. But - that area is still covered with 'tissue' - its not 'dead'. Its my understanding that the colony nourishes the areas that are shaded. Not trying to argue - just understand where you're coming from?

In the past, FWIW, it was fairly common for large colonies to be bought and sold successfully. I hope the OP has good luck.

MnFish1 · Oct 31, 2020

joseserrano said:
Jda is right. He’s actually being very nice. Your lfs should have said something similar before purchase. And never would an acro that large be imported. It would die on the way and cost a ton to ship, with special packaging (wouldn’t fit in a normal box).

I think you're correct - it would be difficult to import an acre that big. BUT there are lots of LFS that sell colonies and transport them locally to large tanks, etc. The LFS I go to has large colonies for sale (for a fair bit of money) - and they install them in large tanks. I do not get the sense that there is a huge problem with this.

14 foot reef said:
I'm actually amazed at all the negativity, how are colonies imported from around the world if everyone is certain of the inevitable death that has now been placed on this colony? Seems like a colony in captivity has a better chance of a 1 hour move than a colony from the wild that has been in a box for 48 hours flying half way around the world.

In any case its a beautiful coral - I'm curious - how big is it actually - I was guessing about 7-8 inches across (based on the size of the base) from tip to tip?

ScottB · Oct 31, 2020

Now you guys have me worried about this colony I had to pull from my display. Chemistry is largely the same but my frag system is hybrid with less PAR than the 8X80 watt sunpower in the display. Flow is greater though. For the first week it has been fine. Trying to find a new bigger home for it. 14" X 11"

MnFish1 · Oct 31, 2020

ScottB said:
Now you guys have me worried about this colony I had to pull from my display. Chemistry is largely the same but my frag system is hybrid with less PAR than the 8X80 watt sunpower in the display. Flow is greater though. For the first week it has been fine. Trying to find a new bigger home for it. 14" X 11"

Beautiful coral - and I wouldn't worry about it. Although sometimes changing from MH to LED can cause issues. Do you know the PAR of the old vs new tank? Is there a reason you don't want to break it apart? Or - sell to an LFS? My guess is that its worth a fair amount...

ScottB · Oct 31, 2020

MnFish1 said:
Beautiful coral - and I wouldn't worry about it. Although sometimes changing from MH to LED can cause issues. Do you know the PAR of the old vs new tank? Is there a reason you don't want to break it apart? Or - sell to an LFS? My guess is that its worth a fair amount...

It was in over 500 PAR and now 300-350 max.

I have fragged it several times over the years so I have backups in my tanks, LFS tanks, and other local hobbyist tanks. I am shopping it around here on R2R CT reef club. I would not be up to trying to package this for shipping.

It is tricolor valida and grows SUPER fast.

McPuff · Oct 31, 2020

I bought a very big colony of Bali green slimer about 1.5 years ago and it was bigger than what you've got... not to compare! I had to cut it into a few different colonies in fact. But I didn't lose anything in the process. I don't think the change from one system to another is going to be as big a deal for a stag since it's much easier for flow and light to reach the interior. I have also moved a couple other huge colonies from one tank to another (120 -> 300) and the only changes I noticed were faster growth, better PE, and better color! Heck, I've sold very large colonies to other reefers and those didn't skip a beat either. I think you're colony is going to be just fine.

ScottB · Oct 31, 2020

ScottB said:
Now you guys have me worried about this colony I had to pull from my display. Chemistry is largely the same but my frag system is hybrid with less PAR than the 8X80 watt sunpower in the display. Flow is greater though. For the first week it has been fine. Trying to find a new bigger home for it. 14" X 11"

Anybody care to throw out a $value they think a colony like this should trade for? I really don't have any idea.

MabuyaQ · Oct 31, 2020

I have seen bigger colonies getting moved between different tanks with different chemistry, different flow and different lighting, no problem at all, just as I have seen the tiniest of frags getting moved from position A to B in the same tank and die in 48 hours.

The only true difference between big and small is that a colony this large has partly created its own environment through adapting its size and shape to the environment it was grown in. That is impossible to replicate so for certain parts of the colony the changes can be quite large and it may take some time before that part of the colony starts to adapt.

The big advantage of introducing big pieces like this is that in contrast to small frags, there is a lot of coraltissue that acts as a nutrient reserve for the rest of the colony. There are large sections that has no room to grow in any direction but creates plenty of energy for the colony to utilize elsewhere. It is the same reason why colonies of a certain size suddenly show exponential growth. So as long as this is a healthy piece to begin with, you provide it acro-favourable conditions it can utilize that same reserve to now adapt.

MnFish1 · Oct 31, 2020

ScottB said:
It was in over 500 PAR and now 300-350 max.

I have fragged it several times over the years so I have backups in my tanks, LFS tanks, and other local hobbyist tanks. I am shopping it around here on R2R CT reef club. I would not be up to trying to package this for shipping.

It is tricolor valida and grows SUPER fast.

I would think it should be ok - kind of like if you buy a new coral - and use the acclimation setting on it - the other corals in the tank do not seem too bothered by that?

MnFish1 · Oct 31, 2020

ScottB said:
Anybody care to throw out a $value they think a colony like this should trade for? I really don't have any idea.

Its hard to tell because of the coloring of the lights right - but if it looked like that in real life it would be 'a large sum'. I would think - that even if you broke it into 5 "smaller" colonies - they would sell for hundreds. LOL how many small frags do you think you could get off of it? And then multiply that price by whatever price you could get.

MnFish1 · Oct 31, 2020

Here are a couple of interesting pictures lol

. @ScottB prompted me to purchase this colony - about 6-7 inches at the LFS - Will see how it does... And @Stuartmercer - (more interesting) - here is a picture of a coral that I happened to 'bump' and knock off 3 heads (its about 5 inches) - at first the interior was completely 'white' - but - clearly not 'dead' - the picture today shows the growth coming back. deep inside the coral (the bluish tinting). And if you look at how 'tight' the heads are - I dont see how they would be getting much flow inside. Again not wanting to argue just to understand where you're coming from?

Stuartmercer · Oct 31, 2020

MnFish1 said:
Here are a couple of interesting pictures lol. @ScottB prompted me to purchase this colony - about 6-7 inches at the LFS - Will see how it does... And @Stuartmercer - (more interesting) - here is a picture of a coral that I happened to 'bump' and knock off 3 heads (its about 5 inches) - at first the interior was completely 'white' - but - clearly not 'dead' - the picture today shows the growth coming back. deep inside the coral (the bluish tinting). And if you look at how 'tight' the heads are - I dont see how they would be getting much flow inside. Again not wanting to argue just to understand where you're coming from?

Sorry for the confusion. After looking at my past comments I realized I kept mentioning it 'dieing' which is almost never the case. I meant it would bleach not die. My apologies for stiring the pot, was not my intention.

MnFish1 · Oct 31, 2020

Stuartmercer said:
Sorry for the confusion. After looking at my past comments I realized I kept mentioning it 'dieing' which is almost never the case. I meant it would bleach not die. My apologies for stiring the pot, was not my intention.

no need to apologize - Im curious - do you think the 'bleaching' that occurs under the colony hurts it? I was thinking about what you said - my guess is - and its totally a guess - is that the tissue shaded - does 'turn white' - it obtains nutrients from the rest of the colony - and excretes its wastes the same way - I have just never heard the flow issue raised...... No worries

Stuartmercer · Oct 31, 2020

MnFish1 said:
no need to apologize - Im curious - do you think the 'bleaching' that occurs under the colony hurts it? I was thinking about what you said - my guess is - and its totally a guess - is that the tissue shaded - does 'turn white' - it obtains nutrients from the rest of the colony - and excretes its wastes the same way - I have just never heard the flow issue raised...... No worries

Possibly under some circumstances that it could harm the coral but not too sure.

14 foot reef · Nov 1, 2020

MnFish1 said:
I think you're correct - it would be difficult to import an acre that big. BUT there are lots of LFS that sell colonies and transport them locally to large tanks, etc. The LFS I go to has large colonies for sale (for a fair bit of money) - and they install them in large tanks. I do not get the sense that there is a huge problem with this.

In any case its a beautiful coral - I'm curious - how big is it actually - I was guessing about 7-8 inches across (based on the size of the base) from tip to tip?

It is actually about 14" around tip to tip and about 12" tall